Merzbow
Masami Akita was born in 1956 in Tokyo, Japan. Akita is a graduate of Tamagawa University, Art Department, and majored in Painting & Art Theory. Akita formed the premier Japanese Noise group Merzbow in 1979. Merzbow have released over 300 recordings, on tape, LP and CD, to date, working with many different media such as video, film and CD-ROM, both in the directorial and soundtrack role.
Masami Akita was born in 1956 in Tokyo, Japan. Akita is a graduate of Tamagawa University, Art Department, and majored in Painting & Art Theory. Akita formed the premier Japanese Noise group Merzbow in 1979. Merzbow have released over 300 recordings, on tape, LP and CD, to date, working with many different media such as video, film and CD-ROM, both in the directorial and soundtrack role.
Works 1987-1993
Both of these projects hardly need an introduction. Merzbow is since the late 70s the project of Masami Akita working in the field of noise music, having released a few hundred CDs/LPs/cassettes by now. In 1987 Kapotte Muziek was then the solo project of Frans de Waard, after Christian Nijs left the group early '87. De Waard concentrated on working with other musicians, and started trading tapes with a few musicians he was already in contact with, and one of them was Merzbow. The first release w…
Amniocentesi / Envoise 30 05 82
Two unreleased long tracks recorded in 1982. These tracks were originally submitted for the Mail Art Music Project compilation LP. Only one minute of each track was published on the now extremely rare compilation album.Remastered from original master tapes. Cover photo taken in 1982 in Milan. Numbered edition with paste-on cover.
Cuts
If jazz, as the eminent critic Whitney Balliet once wrote, is the “sound of surprise,†Cuts, an intensely cathartic, fiercely turbulent collaboration between Japanese noise purveyor Masami Akita (aka Merzbow), Hungarian drummer Balazs Pandi and Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustasfsson, is the “sound of shock and awe.†A sonic assault of epic proportions, it blends the bombast of Merzbow’s grinding white noise barrages with Pandi’s thunderous pulse on the kit and Gust…
Duo
Recordings from Masami Akita and Kiyoshi Mizutani. Kiyoshi was a member of Merzbow in the 80's and has made solo works since 1989, though main man Masami Akita has been the backbone of the band since 1979. These recordings are mainly from the '87-'89 era, but some of the earliest recordings were released in 1979. The first Merzbow tour abroad was in 1988 in Russia, featuring Masami Akita and Kiyoshi Mizutani. The second was in Europe (Holland, Germany, and France) in 1989 where Kiyoshi als…
Cat's Squirrel
"Cat's Squirrel is a live recording of Masami Akita and Oren Ambarchi's performance in Campbelltown, Australia in May 2012. Although Akita and Ambarchi have known one another since 1993 and performed together as part of larger ensembles, this was their first performance as a duo. Together they create a massive wall of sound that moves from the cavernous to the blisteringly psychedelic, laying down shifting low-end structures over which pointillist details ricochet across the stereo field. Akita …
Collection 009
This amazing early Merzbow work (reissued for the first time) comes from the legendary 10 tape set Merzbow - Collection. Originally self released as C46 cassette, Collection 009 contain some previous studio and live sessions & raw-material. This earliest music was made with recorded tapes, audio feedback, percussion, metal and other acoustic instruments as source. All sounds were mixed by Masami Akita at Lowest Music & Arts Studio, Machida, Tokyo in 1981 and Kiyoshi Mizutani played several instr…
Merzphysics
This 10xCD box set composed of previously unreleased recordings from 1993–95, it focuses on pure noise from before the introduction of synthesizers and other electronic instruments. The noise is described as being linked to grindcore, having a sense of speed, and was recorded live to cassette. Merzphysics can be considered to be a sequel to Merzbient, which also features unreleased vintage cassette recordings.As with some of the tracks on Merzbient, the titles are taken from cassette brands: AX…
Works 1987-1993
Both of these projects hardly need an introduction. Merzbow is since the late '70s the project of Masami Akita working in the field of noise music, having released a few hundred CDs/LPs/cassettes by now. In 1987 Kapotte Muziek was then the solo project of Frans de Waard, after Christian Nijs left the group early '87. De Waard concentrated on working with other musicians, and started trading tapes with a few musicians he was already in contact with, and one of them was Merzbow. The first release …
Mer Mar
Recorded at Studio GOK Sound, Tokyo April 7 2010 by Hamamoto Yohei. Produced by Masami Akita and Lasse Marhaug. Cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin. Cover design by Lasse Marhaug. Masami Akita and Lasse Marhaug have been working together since the mid 90ies. The first release on Marhaug's (now deleted) label Jazzassin Records in 1995 was the First Rock split single. In 2001 Merzbow and Jazzkammer (Marhaug's project with John Hegre) released a live album. Later, Akita and…
Kibbutz
Outstanding reissue, one of the best Merzbow albums ever made, originally released in 1983 on cassette by the Milanese label Adn, Kibbutz is a mélange of sounds made by Masami Akita aka Merzbow on drums, guitar and effects supported, in those years, by Kiyoshi Mizutani at the keyboards and recorded at Kitijoji Music Studio in Tokyo. In this first period, the sounds produced by the duo were amplified up to the distortion producing long sonic-anti psychedelic jam session. The three tracks on Kibb…
Yaho-Niwa
Masami Akita alias Merzbow, the king of noise music, the defender of the vegan cause, the animals lover is coming back with a cosmic and devastating magma, a spinning metal tapestry-work with loops of echoes in a whale rutting way. As usual, to be listened to very loudly. Mix realized at Munemihouse in Tokyo during the month of April in 2011.
Guya / Greed
Second official release from CX records, Italy. “Guya” new and unreleased track from the master of japanese noise Masami Akita, 18 minutes of noise bliss, a powerful sonic trip structured by feedbacks, digital and analog electronics. A devastating masterpiece. 3 new tracks recorded, composed and mixed in Berlin, Rome and Tokyo by Cris X/Cristiano Luciani in collaboration with underground japanese musicians, Keiko Higuchi (vocals, piano, lyrics) and Sachiko (vocals, electronics): a dark and visi…
Jigokuhen
Jigokuhen is the final instalment in Masami Akita's 15 part Bird Series for Important Records. Inspired by Olivier Messaien's Catalogue D'Oiseaux, the Bird Series saw the release of one CD per month for 13 months while a 14th disc was released free via download to series subscribers and on CDr with the purchase of Merzbow's EcoBag. This 14th Bird Series release is being issued on the 2 year anniversary of the start of the Bird Series and in conjuntion with Vampilla's new album on Important …
13 Japanese Birds In A Bag
Shortly after ordering this 14 CD set; I read a newspaper article about the plight of the Eurasian cuckoo whose habitat is being gradually destroyed both in Britain and abroad. It is this type of threat to birdlife that inspired Japanese ‘noise music’ meister and long-time animal activist Masami Akita’s (aka Merzbow) 2009 album series, “13 Japanese Birds”. Now the entire set, plus a new CDR and piece of screen print art-work have been reissued as “13 Birds In A Bag”, with a navy blue eco-f…
Merzbient
RESTOCKED: The old adage "nothing exceeds like excess" is inversely defined in Merzbow's latest exploit, a beguiling, gargantuan and limited (to 555 hand-numbered copies) 12 x CD boxset of "quieter" material, housed in hardcover box with red foil block print, featuring sounds recorded between 1987 and 1990 and accompanied by a die-cast metal medallion enscribed with the word 'dōbutsukaihō' meaning 'Animal Liberation' in Japanese. When Masami Akita (Merzbow) started touring internationally …
Live At Henie Onstad Art Centre
Masami Akita’s Merzbow project is the biggest name in noise music. Few other artist enjoys the kind of respect within their fields as Merzbow does within the noise scene. If talking about noise music there is simply no way getting around Merzbow. Since 1979 Akita has worked relentlessly producing hundreds of records. He also has a long list of collaboraters: Richard Pinhas, Sunn 0))), Autechre, Pan Sonic, Jim O’Rourke, Boris, Gore Beyond Necropsy, Smegma and many others.Merzbow performed …
Eucalypse
The Tasmanian Blue Gum tree, Eucalyptus globulus, is native to Tasmania and southern Australia. Eucalyptus trees are uniquely suited to the varied ecologies of Australia, and there is no other continent more closely associated with one genus of tree. Its leaves are the food of choice of the koala, and its flowers attract bees and hummingbirds. Out of approximately 300 identified species, Blue Gums are now the eucalyptus most frequently found in other parts of the world. Throughout the tro…
Graft
Graft is an album by Japanese noise master Masami Akita aka Merzbow. This LP album is pressed on lime-green vinyl in a "bootleg"-style sleeve and sealed with a sticker. Limited to 300 regular copies. According to the Merzbow blog, the design was inspired by a '70s Jethro Tull bootleg called My God, and the recording was inspired by the plant illustrations in the Voynich manuscript. Recorded in November 2009 at Munemi House, Tokyo.
Flesh Metal Orgasm
*Limited edition of 150 copies* Recorded Live at ZSF Produkt Studio, Tokyo on Sep 1988. Remastered from Original Master Tape on Jan 2010. Originally Released on ZSF Produkt 1988.
Normal Music
Early merzbow works featuring Masami Akita and Kiyoshi Mizutani. Recorded & Mixed at Various Studios on 1982. Remixed by Masami Akita at Lowest Music & Arts Studio, Tokyo. Remastered from Original Master Tape on Jan 2010. Originally Released on Lowest Music & Arts 1982.